VMware has announced several updates to the VMware vCloud Suite portfolio of management solutions amid VMworld Europe this week.
Introduced in August at VMworld 2012 in San Francisco, version 5.1 of the vCloud Suite included more than 100 updates and new features for better service when it comes to business-critical workloads, low-latency, and I/O-sensitive apps.
VMware chief technology officer Steve Herrod remarked at the time that the vCloud Suite represents a shift in focus from primarily virtual machines to virtual datacenters, working to ensure that running a virtual datacenter is just as simple as a VM.
At the heart of the new additions being announced today is the VMware vCloud Automation Center 5.1, a new product that enables authorized administrators, developers or business users to request new IT services or manage existing resources.
Based on DynamicOps, which VMware acquired in July, the self-service portal also supports policy-based provisioning across VMware-based private and public clouds, physical infrastructures, multiple hypervisors and Amazon Web Services.
Other updates to the Suite include:
- Expanded vFabric Application Director application support to include all Microsoft packaged applications (Exchange, SQL, Sharepoint) as well as custom applications (Java,.Net, Ruby on Rails).
- VMware vCenter Operations Management Suite 5.6 will have application-level monitoring to help customers business-critical applications, including Microsoft SQL, Exchange, Sharepoint, Windows OS as well as Oracle Database and custom Java applications.
- VMware vCloud Connector 2.0 includes a content sync function so customers can manage a single content catalog across entire hybrid cloud environments.
- VMware IT Business Management Suite 7.5 comes with a new IT benchmarking module that includes more than 3,500 metrics across 18 domains so IT departments can compare their performance with industry and functional peers.
VMware’s updated Cloud Management Solutions are expected to roll out during the fourth quarter of calendar 2012. All of VMware’s Cloud Management Solutions will be available à la carte and priced per virtual machine.
Here's a rundown on the pricing scheme:
- VMware vCloud Automation Center 5.1, VMware vCloud Connector 2.0, VMware vCenter Operations Management Suite 5.6 and vFabric Application Director 5.0: Included in the VMware vCloud Suite, which is licensed per processor with no core, vRAM or number of VM limits. Pricing starts at $4,995 per processor.
- VMware vCenter Operations Suite Foundation: Free download for all VMware vSphere customers with active support.
- VMware IT Business Management Suite: Licensed per user